The invention pertains to a method and a device for affixing a marking ribbon to a book or a brochure featuring a book block that is formed by gathering several sheets such as, e.g., folded sections and/or single sheets and thread-sewn and/or perfect-bound in the spine, as well as the marking ribbon fixed within the book block.
A marking ribbon that is solidly affixed to the book or the brochure in the form of a bookmark makes it possible to easily and quickly locate text passages.
In hardcover books, the marking ribbon is thus far inserted into the book block after the trimming of the book block on three sides and fixed on the book block spine with one end while the free end is drawn into the book block offset to the insertion point. Such a method is known, for example, from DE 20 53 648 A and used on self-contained marking ribbon inserting machines in the transport section between the three-knife trimmer and the book production line. In the book production line, the book block spine is subsequently lined with a lining paper that includes headbands affixed to its ends and ultimately cased in a case such that the marking ribbon emerges underneath the headband in the spine on the head side on the finished books. In brochures, the above-described method cannot be used because the book block is already cased in the cover in the perfect binding machine, i.e., prior to the trimming on three sides.
DE 100 45 900 A1 discloses a book with a marking ribbon, in which the marking ribbon is situated in a cavity of the spine, from which it can be pulled by the user, until its initial use. The marking ribbon is affixed by being placed on the book block spine—a step that can be carried out in the book production line together with the lining of the book block. Alternatively, the marking ribbon can be affixed prior to the trimming on three sides, e.g., in the perfect binding machine, such that at least Lay-Flat brochures with a hollow spine between the cover that is glued to the book block sides and the lined book block spine can be equipped with a marking ribbon fixed in the spine. In classic brochures without a hollow spine, this type of affixing the marking ribbon can only be realized if the marking ribbon is accommodated in a sleeve that is subsequently embedded in the brochure spine.
DE 10 2006 003 346 A1 discloses a book or a brochure with a marking ribbon fixed within the book block, wherein the fixing end of the marking ribbon is guided through a hole pierced into the joint of one of the folded sections forming the book block and fixed on this folded section. Until its initial use, the marking ribbon is situated on a certain page within the book block. When it is in use, the marking ribbon emerges from the head cut of the book block. The marking ribbon needs to be introduced into the corresponding folded section prior to the gathering by initially opening the folded section, piercing the hole in the joint near the edge at the head, guiding the marking ribbon through the hole with one end and subsequently fixing the marking ribbon on the folded section with this end.
The integration of these relatively complex production steps into a folding machine as proposed in DE 10 2006 003 346 A1 is complicated and limits the production capacity of the machine. With respect to the broadest possible availability of the marking ribbon introduction in the different production methods, one also needs to consider the diversity of folding devices that are used in dependence on the production type and the number of pages, e.g., knife folders, buckle folders or combination folders in sheet-processing machines or newspaper folders and nip-and-tuck folders in web-fed printing machines. In addition, the introduction of the marking ribbon with a separate machine requires additional operating personnel for the loading and unloading processes, occupies production space due to the intermediate storage of the folded sections and increases the processing time for orders. Another disadvantage of the method can be seen in that the marking ribbon cannot be affixed to an individual sheet.